Mass Effect: Galaxy on Fire
by TheShredDoctor
Summary: AU. Humanity never truly forgave the Turians for Shanxi or the Batarians for Elysium. Tensions between the Alliance and the other races run high and Xenophobia runs rampant. When war finally erupts across the galaxy, a young Quarian sent on a diplomatic mission and an ex-soldier haunted by his past are caught in the middle.


**Note: This is an AU (alternate universe) story, meaning that it is set in a different universe than the canonical Mass Effect series. If something is stated that is contradictory to the official Mass Effect games, even something such as a codex entry, it is likely intentional.**

**The reapers, and anything related to them, will not be appearing in this story. This fanfic centers around the interactions of the individuals and races of Mass Effect, and has actual people as the antagonists, with real emotions, rather than big scary robot aliens. Don't get me wrong, I love the conflict between the organics and the reapers, it's just I wanted to make something where the bad guys were something tangible and relatable to real life.**

**It's easy to forget that in history, the villains were never monsters or supernatural beings that were inherently evil, but rather real people who chose to follow a particular path because they truly believed that they were doing the right thing. That, in my opinion, is scarier than any reaper invasion could ever be.**

**Anyways, on to the story:**

0-0-0-0-0

"The newest addition to the Alliance fleet, the SSV Istanbul, was recently seen docking at Arcturus station after its week-long tour of duty in the Exodus Cluster, showing signs of battle-,"

"-We now welcome Mathias Kroner, author of 'Defending The Verge' to the studio, to give his opinion on the escalating tensions with the Hegemony-,"

"-Traffic to Eden Prime over the past ten weeks has decreased by over 34%, while Horizon has experienced an overwhelming 77% drop. Many colonists in the verge are fearing for the worst as-,"

"-John Shepard, a man hailed as a hero amongst Alliance soldiers, was awarded the Star of Terra for his heroic action on the planet of Torfan. In an unexpected turn of events, Shepard resigned from the Alliance military earlier this month, soon after being offered a promotion to the rank of Commander. Rear Admiral Mikhailovich refused to comment-,"

**BANG!**

A burst of sparks lit up the shadowy marketplace as a mass accelerator round shattered the screen of an Alliance News terminal. A few shoppers briefly turned their heads to look at the human who had fired at the terminal, before simply shrugging at the action. Most simply ignored it and carried on with their day as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Gunfire, after all, was not an uncommon sound on Omega.

"Hey! That's coming out of your pocket!" shouted a gruff batarian voice from across the market as a small group of armed mercenaries pushed their way through the crowd. They carefully approached the human who stood before the destroyed screen, pistol aimed at the sparking crater his bullet had left, their own weapons drawn at the individual, ignoring the overwhelming stench of alcohol that lingered in the air.

"Yeah, yeah," the human replied non-chalantly, holstering his pistol (an action that took several attempts to perform) and tossing a credit chit to the batarian who had addressed him.

The Batarian deftly caught the credit chit in one hand, keeping his weapon steadily trained on the now unarmed man. "Uh-uh, not good enough this time," He grunted, shaking his head, "That's the third terminal you've shot this week. You're coming to see Aria."

"Second," The human slurred, "one of those, I punched."

"Same thing. You're losing us money," The Batarian growled, roughly shoving the human, forcing him to march forwards.

The human, clearly intoxicated, made a weak effort to shrug the batarian off before simply relaxing, seemingly accepting that the batarian could easily overpower him at any given moment.

"Besides, Aria said she wanted to speak to you personally about something."

That pulled the human out of his drunken stupor. He paused in his tracks for a few seconds, only to have the muzzle of a gun harshly thrust between his shoulder blades. "Yeah, yeah, I'm walking," The human muttered, picking his pace back up. "Why would Aria want to see me?"

The Batarian shrugged. "I'm not paid to know what Aria's thinking. But I do know she takes notice when anyone worthy of notice arrives on Omega. Including you, Commander Shepard."

The human guffawed. "Ex-Commander," he murmured, "Heh, actually, I resigned without accepting the promotion, so I don't even have that title."

None of the mercenaries surrounding him seemed to take pay him any further attention as they pushed past the crowd in the direction of the bright neon lights that illuminated the exterior of the ever-popular Afterlife nightclub.

Silently, his armed entourage led Shepard to the back of the nightclub, drawing stares from a few of the less inebriated occupants of the room. Ignoring the gawking, the former Alliance soldier allowed himself to be led up a flight of stairs to a private booth which overlooked the club.

Around the booth, several armed guards stood sentry; batarians, turians, asari, even a human. They all stood rigid with a discipline that would make many Alliance officers green with envy; each one training a careful gaze on Shepard as he approached.

The former soldier suddenly found himself being pushed forwards, towards the sole occupant of the booth who was both seated, and unarmed. An asari leaned casually back on a sectional couch before Shepard; her cool azure gaze piercing into his.

"So you're Aria," Shepard said, focusing his attention on the asari. "I thought you'd be taller."

At his address, the asari quirked a brow; the faintest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "You know of me?" She asked, with an almost acerbic tone in her voice, "Good. Then we can skip the greetings and pleasantries."

She waved a hand, gesturing to an empty spot on the couch. Shepard understood the gesture perfectly. It wasn't a friendly offer, or a polite suggestion; it was a forceful demand. Not willing to piss off his host and her armed guards, Shepard took a seat.

Silence enveloped the booth as Aria, who had conjured a digital data pad in her hands, focused all her attention on the screen before her. Shepard quickly recognized this as a test; she wanted to see if he'd make the first move. Shepard, as always, was not one to disappoint.

"So, I hear you wanted to speak to me about something," he stated, breaking the tense silence that had formed.

"Someone with your... abilities doesn't escape my notice Shepard, especially not on Omega," She began, "And I find myself needing someone with your abilities."

"Ah, I see where this is going," Shepard said, slowly rising to his feet, "This is a recruitment thing. No thanks, I just got out of the line of fire; I'm not going back in. Especially not for such, er, illicit activities that you and your goons take part in."

"Sit down, Shepard!" Aria ordered forcefully, allowing her biotics to flare for effect. She watched as the ex-soldier slowly sank back into the couch before continuing, fixing him with a hard stare as she did so. "Do not take me and my men for two-bit thugs. I run the largest pirate ring in the terminus systems. And despite what you may think, we aren't so bad. We raid slavers, smugglers, and all kinds of criminals. Out here in the Terminus, nobody is innocent."

Shepard scoffed, "Don't try to sell yourself as some kind of saint."

Aria smirked in response. "Saint? No. I'm the biggest sinner on this station, and I'll be the first to admit it. But my information network tells me I'm not the only sinner here. I know what happened on Torfan; it wasn't just a pirate hide-out, was it?"

"If you know that," Sheppard gritted out, ignoring the nightmarish memories that threatened to flood his head from the mere mention of that cursed planet, "Then why would you think I'd want to add to my list of things that will forever haunt me?"

"I think I have an offer that you can't refuse," Aria replied simply. "I have a task force that specifically hunts slaver ships. You can make amends for what you've done by helping those poor, poor souls, forced into slavery against their wills," she nearly purred.

Shepard growled. "Stop fucking around, Aria! I know you have no interest in freeing slaves. What's the catch?"

Aria leaned back in her seat, giving her PDA a glance before continuing. "Six shots of whiskey, five shots of bourbon, and seventeen shots of batarian behrohl."

Shepard cocked his head. "And... is that supposed to mean something to me?" he asked.

Aria chuckled mirthlessly. "It should, although I don't blame you for not remembering. That was your bar tab from last night. I've never seen anyone take that many shots of bherohl in one night and stay on their feet. Your persistent attempts to woo one of our strippers afterwards were quite amusing, even watching from up here."

"Is there a point to all this?" the human asked with a scowl. "If I didn't pay it off, I can do that now. I have more than enough money."

The asari smirked. "No, you paid your tab, just like you do every night. That's one of the things I like about you Shepard; you're reliable when you owe money, even when you're piss-drunk. You're a steady source of income here.

"Every night, you drop a few thousand credits on alcohol, a few thousand more on lap dances, and every morning, you wake up in a gutter somewhere. Every night, the cycle repeats, without fail; every night since you arrived on Omega."

Shepard clenched his jaw. "I'm not looking for a life councillor. I don't need you, of all people to tell me how messed up I am. Believe me, I already know. Besides; what's it to you? You've already said I'm a reliable source of income. That's all you care about, money, isn't it?" was his scathing retort.

Aria shook her head sadly. "You're right; I do only care about the money. I don't give a damn about your wellbeing; I am worried I'll lose a sizable chunk of cash flow from my club.

"Sure, for now you fill my pockets, but that's not going to last. You'll eventually either run out of money, and live as a scavenger on the street, or drink yourself into a coma. Neither option looks very bright for either of us. So, I offer you a third path; one that is much more pleasant for us both.

"You work for me, putting those skills you picked up in that fancy little N7 program of yours to use by tracking down and capturing slaver ships that have wandered too far into my territory. You free slaves; I get to sell off the ships you capture. It's a win-win for both of us." Aria said smoothly.

She produced a small, laminated card from within one of her jacket's pockets and tossed it into Shepard's lap. "Docking bay E-10. That's your security clearance. Be there at 0800 hours tomorrow if you want in. Or, you could spend another night here, drowning your sorrows in booze and strippers. Your choice."

0-0-0-0-0

The mechanical door to the engine room slid open to admit a new occupant, briefly letting some ambient light from the hall to filter in, illuminating the room, before the door slid shut with a hiss.

Tali squinted at the circuitry she had been soldering together, trying to make out the individual wires in the relative darkness. Normally, she'd use the flashlight on her omni-tool, but as Boli'Vix was using it, and as his work patching a fuel line was more important, she was left fumbling in the dark.

It was all very much annoying, but between the Rayya being such an old ship, and the migrant fleet having very little in the way of spare parts, the aged circuit breakers in the Rayya's engine room couldn't handle the strain of supporting both the engines _and_ the lights. Logically, it was decided that the engines were more important to keep running than the lights.

"-That's the third time in the past two months. Do you think they'll ever try attacking the flotilla directly?"

That snippet of conversation from across the room caught Tali's attention. _Attack the flotilla? Who would do that?_ She wondered to herself. She hadn't heard her father mention anything about any attacks, and he would tell her if the migrant fleet was in danger. _Wouldn't he?_

"-Damn batarians. I hear they're giving the humans no end of trouble as well," She managed to overhear as she strained her ears.

_Humans? _

Although it had been before she was born, Tali had heard plenty about what the turians called the Relay 314 incident. The humans, a species that was completely new to the galactic stage, had engaged turian forces and had subsequently driven them back.

Although it had left a sour taste in the mouths of the citadel races, the quarians had secretly admired the humans. It had been the turians who led the opposition against aiding the quarians during their exodus from their home systems, and many quarians still resented them for that.

Many quarians, though they'd never publicly admit it, had reveled in the fact that there had been some race that was willing to stand up to the military strong-arm of the galactic council. Of course, it had all ended when the asari stepped in and forcibly ceased hostilities. The humans had opened up an embassy in the citadel, and although they stayed on the outskirts of citadel politics, they never showed any open aggression to the turians again.

The batarians were a different matter, however. While the turians gave the quarians a general hard time, sticking them with red-tape whenever so much as a single quarian shuttle attempted to enter citadel space, the batarians actually led active raids against the flotilla's scouting fleets. According to all the news broadcasts from Alliance space, the batarians were hitting the humans even harder; going so far as to attack their colonies.

"-With the admiralty right now. You think it's possible?" Tali snapped out of her reverie, turning her attention back to the conversation she had been eavesdropping on. Apparently she had missed a lot. _Who was with the admirals? What did they have to do with humans or batarians? _

"When I was on my pilgrimage, I met one. She had bits of metal sticking into her face!"

"Metal, sticking in her face?"

"Yeah, just stabbed right through her skin, just because she thought it looked good. And she was wearing the skin of a dead animal."

"Wearing dead animals? That sounds absolutely barbaric!"

Tali found herself agreeing with that last statement, though she wasn't quite sure what the topic of their conversation had switched to. Batarians? Krogans? Likely one of the two, as they were the only two races she knew of that were brutal enough to enjoy such things. She finally decided on krogans, as the conversation topic switched to some form of music that involved guttural growling accompanied by some instrument called a 'guitar'.

Eventually, Tali grew bored of eavesdropping and focused her attention back on the circuitry in her hands. Methodically, she fused the little filaments of metal together, careful to make sure she used just the right amount of lead-aluminum alloy to solder each connection.

The circuitry she was working with was extremely old and delicate, marred by indications of past, less than perfect, soldering jobs. It was a task that for most engineers would be difficult, and in the light Tali had, it would have been near impossible, if it wasn't for the fact that she wasn't most engineers.

Finally, Tali managed to set the circuitry down, smiling to herself in satisfaction at her work. Casting a glance at the now nearly empty room behind her, Tali was suddenly made aware of how late it must be getting. She silently cursed when she noticed that Boli wasn't there anymore. He must have left without remembering to return her omni-tool.

_Oh well_, she mentally shrugged, deciding she'd ask for it back the next day. Picking herself up from the squatting position she had been in as she worked, she suddenly felt the pins-and-needles sensation of blood flow returning to her lower legs.

Stumbling awkwardly until feeling returned to her calves, Tali made her way to the door leading out of the engine room. The door slid open with a swoosh, only for Tali to suddenly find herself staring into a pair of sapphire-blue eyes.

"Oh, hello," came a cheerful, female voice.

Rather than reply, as was the polite thing to do; Tali stood gawking at the person standing before her. Onyx black curls of hair pooled down from the individual's head, coming to rest on their shoulders. Their lips and nose were visible behind a transparent breather mask that covered the lower half of their face. A tight fitting black and white uniform clung to (what Tali assumed, based on quarian standards, was) a very feminine form.

Remembering back to all the vids and pictures she had seen, Tali realized that she was currently standing face-to-face with a human. Here, on the Rayya.

"Um... hi," Was all Tali was able to stutter dumbly.

That was when a pair of quarians appeared over the human's shoulder. "Operative Lawson, is everything... oh, hello Tali."

"Hello, father," Tali murmured, suddenly feeling very self-conscientious as she looked between her father, the human, and the other quarian who she was able to immediately place as being Admiral Zaal'Koris.

"Tali'Zorah?" The human piped up, "I've heard quite a bit about you. Admiral Shala'Raan spoke very highly of you. Admirals Daro'Xen and Han'Gerrel both mentioned your considerable skill with electronics. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Despite her confusion at the sudden appearance of this alien on the flotilla, Tali managed to feel a pang of sadness upon hearing that her father was not included in the list of people who had praised her so openly.

"Er... pleased to meet you, too." Tali managed to reply.

"We were just about to give Operative Lawson a tour of the Rayya's engines," Koris said evenly, "Perhaps you'd be willing to join us, to answer any technical questions we might not be able to."

Shakily, Tali nodded her head before nervously shuffling to the side to allow the other three individuals to pass through the door.

"Well, this is the engine room," Tali said, gesturing around them. Immediately, she wished she could smack herself for saying something so obvious.

Operative Lawson, however seemed to drink in her words as if they had been something truly insightful. "Fascinating!" She exclaimed, casting her gaze around the dimly lit compartment. "Just how old are the Rayya' engines?"

"Same age as the ship," Tali's father replied, standing stiffly with his arms held rigidly behind his back. "And the Rayya dates back to the original evacuation from the home world."

The human whistled. "Over three centuries old, and still running; amazing. The oldest ship in the Alliance fleet isn't even thirty, and we're close to retiring her."

"It's all thanks to brilliant mechanics like Tali," A new voice said from behind the small group.

Four heads immediately turned to face another quarian, whose suit was covered by so many grease stains, it was almost completely black.

"Operative Lawson, this is Taar'Dis vas Rayya," said Rael'Zorah, gesturing to the new quarian. "He is the lead engineer here on the Rayya. No one knows more about her systems than him."

Her face sufficiently hidden behind her mask, Tali allowed herself to scowl at the admiral. From the tone of his voice, it was abundantly clear that he was relieved to turn the attention away from his own daughter. Although, grudging as she was to admit, Tali _was_ secretly glad she was no longer in the spot light. She had been failing spectacularly beforehand. Still, to be passed off so readily, stung.

The lead engineer chuckled lightly. "Tali here might be passing me in that respect very soon. You should see what she did today," he replied, holding up a familiar piece of circuitry, "If we weren't so desperate for parts, I might have put this in a display case and sold it to a museum. This here; this is art."

The human decided to take a closer look at Tali's handiwork. "This looks almost like kind of model that T'Kira Fabrications used to produce," She said with interest.

"Ah, good eye," the elder engineer replied jovially, "That's because it is a T'Kira Fabrications model."

The operative gasped in shock. "Alliance safety regulations state that any circuitry involved with an eezo drive-core will wear out and be rendered useless within five years," she stated; her eyes wide. "T'Kira Fabrications went out of business nearly forty years ago!"

"The wearing out is caused by the rapid oxidization of the metals due to exposure to the eezo," Tali instantly jumped in with an impassioned explanation. "You can counteract the oxidization using an lead-based metal in the..." the young quarian trailed off mid-sentence upon noticing that everyone's eyes were focused on her. "Er, sorry," she murmured, fixing her gaze on her three-toed feet, silently willing everyone to cast their gaze elsewhere.

"Oh, not at all," the human said brightly, causing Tali to jerk her head up in surprise. "I actually think it's rather interesting," the operative was quick to reassure. "Lead based solder is it? Interesting. Lead is highly toxic to humans, but for a dextro-amino based species, lead isn't harmful."

"You really think it's interesting?" Tali replied in shock.

"Very much so," the human answered, "In fact, I'd love to see some more of your work."

"Unfortunately, it will have to wait," Rael'Zorah interjected, cutting his daughter off from replying. "Your superiors gave us a rather strict schedule, and I'm afraid to say that we're running low on time, Operative Lawson. We really must be carrying on."

Looking slightly disappointed, before schooling her features into a mask of neutrality, the human nodded. "Of course. Lead the way, Admirals."

With that, the two Admirals left, with the dark haired woman trailing close behind. It was soon after that when Taar returned to his duties, leaving Tali to sort through her thoughts by herself.

_A human on the flotilla? What is going on?_

0-0-0-0-0-0

An exasperated sigh escaped Shepard's lips for the sixth time as he paced in front of the same door he had been staring at for the past fifteen minutes. Incessantly, he lightly trailed his fingers over the surface of the card in his pocket contemplating his options.

He was here now; all he had to do was use the card to open the door and walk through, yet something in the back of his mind kept holding him back. He still didn't trust Aria, yet logically, everything she said had made sense. There was no reason for her to stab him in the back; at least not yet. She had bigger fish to fry.

The sudden hydraulic hiss of a door sliding open interrupted his thoughts and stopped him in his tracks. Turning to look at the door he had been pacing in front of, he saw that it was open. In the doorway leaned peculiar looking human woman with a clean-shaven head, staring at him with a bemused expression.

Upon first glance at the woman, the first thing that immediately caught Shepard's attention was her tattoos. Nearly every inch of exposed flesh (and in her rather minimalistic outfit, there was a _lot_ of exposed flesh) was heavily inked. The small patches of tattoo-free skin she had were intersected by numerous nasty-looking scars.

At first the scars seemed random; souvenirs from past battles, but upon closer inspection, many of them seemed to fallow neat, concise patterns. Shepard had seen scars like that before; they were put there deliberately. This woman had experienced torture, and judging by the sheer number of scars, more than once.

"You do realize that there are cameras up there, right?" The woman asked, waving a hand in an upwards sweep. "We've been watching you walking around out here for the past quarter of a fucking hour. Are you coming in, or not?"

"You know who I am?" Shepard asked in surprise.

"Yeah, yeah," the woman replied non-chalantly, "You're that big fucking hot-shot from the Alliance. Aria told us. Now, if you plan on coming, I suggest moving your ass. We leave port in ten minutes."

Shepard tentatively glanced behind him at the alleyway that would lead him back to one of Omega's filth-ridden marketplaces. This was the defining moment; would he choose a life of piracy, or would he crawl back into bottle? Neither choices appealed to him in his current state, but at least one option left him with at least a shred of dignity.

"What the hell," Shepard murmured before turning back to the woman and stepping forward. "Alright. Let's go."

The woman gave an almost knowing smirk before leading Shepard through the door. "I'm Jack," the woman said tersely, as they made their way to a small docking bay. "I'm your XO."

Shepard extended his hand towards Jack, "I'm-," he began.

"-Shepard," she interrupted, casting a glance at Shepard's offered hand, before turning away, completely ignoring it. "Yeah, I know. Now let's get this show on the fucking road," She said, gesturing down one of the many jetways that branched off of the docking bay.

Minutes later, Shepard found himself in the CIC of an aged, but modest sized Frigate. It was of turian build, judging by the fact that the CIC was located so far behind the bridge. Around them, the ship's mixed-species crew bustled about.

"This is the Aternus," Jack explained, almost fondly, as she sidestepped an asari who sprinted past her. "She was a Hierarchy ship until she was retired last year and Omega bought her. She's old, but she's performed flawlessly in all of the slaver raids she's been through; she'll get the job done."

Shepard took his time examining the ship and her crew as they walked, taking note of any individuals who stood out to him. Standing sentinel on either side of a doorway Shepard assumed was the armory was a turian and a krogan. The turian stood tall and rigid, his arms held tightly at his side. His very demeanour suggested to Shepard that he had the background and discipline of a former soldier. The krogan beside him, however, stood very calm and relaxed; his arms crossed over his chest. Yet despite his posture, he was clearly just as ready to fight as his comrade. Everything about the krogan screamed 'mercenary' to Shepard.

"Very diverse crew," Shepard voiced his observations.

Jack merely shrugged nonchalantly as she made her way to an empty terminal at the center of the CIC. Tapping a couple keys on the holo-display, she began to speak. "We have Shepard," she said, her voice being relayed through the ship's intercom, "I expect this ship to be out of dock within the next minute." Stepping away from the intercom, Jack turned to a passing turian. "Kalin," she barked out, "show Shepard around the ship; I don't have time to babysit."

As soon as the orders were out of her mouth, Jack turned and stalked away, leaving Shepard with the turian. "I get the funny feeling she doesn't like me that much," Shepard muttered; more to himself than anyone else.

"She's just stressed. It'll wear off once she gets to know you," a flanging female voice reassured him.

Shepard turned to face the source of the voice, blinking in surprise when he found himself staring at the turian beside him. "You're a woman," he stated simply.

"And you're a man," the turian replied simply. "I wasn't sure at first; it's almost impossible to tell, since humans don't have head crests. Though, I guess you don't have those funny bumps that Jack has."

There was a brief pause before Shepard gave a light chuckle and extended his hand. "John Shepard," he said.

"Kalin Vespasius," the turian greeted in response, grasping his hand in her talons and giving it a firm shake. "I guess I'll be showing you around the ship. Anywhere in particular you want to start? The bridge? Mess hall? Engineering?"

"Actually, if they aren't busy, I'd like to meet the commanding officer," Shepard replied politely, "Just so I know who exactly I'll be taking orders from."

Kalin's mandibles flexed in surprise. "You mean no one told you?" she asked.

"Told me what?" Shepard asked, quirking an eyebrow in confusion.

Kalin shook her head slowly before composing herself. Turning to Shepard, she explained, "This is your ship, Shepard. You're the CO."

To his credit, Shepard's shocked expression didn't last long before he schooled his features. "Would have been nice to know beforehand," he muttered, before addressing the Turian, "In that case, take me to the crew's quarters, I'd like to know the people on my ship."

Giving a single, crisp nod in acknowledgement, the turian gestured Shepard to follow as she turned towards a flight of stairs at the back of the CIC. "We were just as surprised when Aria told us," she said as the pair descended the stairs, "We were assuming that Jack was going to be our CO, and that we'd be getting a new XO."

"Aria set this up?" Shepard asked, stopping mid step. "What happened to your last CO?" he asked.

Kalin's countenance turned suddenly sullen. "Killed in action," she replied sadly, "sorry, it's not my place to say more than that."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Shepard said sincerely.

"Yeah," Kalin murmured, staring off into the distance, "He will be missed."

"Shall we continue?" asked Shepard after an appropriate pause, hoping to distract the turian from the morose topic.

"Of course," she replied, instantly straightening her posture as she continued to lead Shepard through the ship.

0-0-0-0-0

"Absolutely not! Why are we even entertaining the idea!?" Tali heard her father's voice shout, even from the opposite end of the corridor, as she approached her destination.

Hours after Tali had finally left engineering; she managed to bump into an out-of-breath Boli'Vix. After explaining that he had been searching the entire ship for her, he informed her that she had received an urgent message before hastily returning her omni-tool. The message had been from her Auntie Raan, requesting her presence in the Admiralty's chamber.

Nearing the door that led to said chamber, Tali heard Raan reply to her father. "And just why not, Rael?" she asked, "She is the perfect candidate."

"She's far too young!" was Rael's outraged response. "She isn't even of age for her pilgrimage! They will not appreciate us sending a mere girl! They will take it as an insult!"

'_Who is this "she"'?_ Tali found herself wondering as she hesitated to knock on the door. '_And who are "they"'?_

"That _'mere girl'_ happens to be your _daughter_, Rael," Raan snapped, answering Tali's first question, "and she is only a month away from being old enough to leave for her pilgrimage."

Inside, Tali's thoughts and emotions threatened to wage war. '_This is something private, something official that I should not be listening to_,' she told herself. '_But this is about _me_, of course I have the right to listen!'_ Another voice reasoned.

"It doesn't matter whose daughter she is," her father rebutted, before either of Tali's inner voices could speak again. Resigning herself to heed the advice of the second, she pressed herself against the wall and listened. "She cannot be treated with favouritism. She is too young and under qualified; she alone cannot do this!"

The rather pompous, in Tali's opinion, voice of Zaal'Koris spoke up. "Then she won't go alone. I volunteer to go with her."

"Of course you would, Zaal," Han'Gerrel growled, "That way you would be able to freely spew your blasphemous ideals!"

"Hardly," Zaal replied calmly, "I would of course have Tali with me, and she would be able to represent the... less peaceful... views of her father."

Tali could almost hear the glare her father had undoubtedly leveled at Koris. "So you too are in favour of sending Tali?" he snarled.

"Of course," Zaal'Koris replied diplomatically, "Miss Lawson voiced, on multiple occasions, her interest in once again meeting with your daughter. Clearly, Tali made an impression. I don't doubt it either; while I question her political views for being dangerously close to your own, Rael, I would be blind to not see the skill she possesses. The engineering staff on this ship hail her as a prodigy with an omni-tool, and her scores in combat simulation are the highest in her class. She is a shining example of a quarian, and I cannot think of a better candidate to represent our people."

Tali's ego immediately puffed up at Koris' compliments. It was odd; he was the last person she expected to say such kind things about her, yet here he was, doing so in front of the entire admiralty board.

"I second Zaal's idea," spoke Daro'Xen for the first time since Tali began listening.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I have to agree with Zaal on this one," said Han'Gerrel, sounding apologetic. "What he is proposing, logically, makes sense."

Seeing he was far outnumbered, Rael'Zorah sighed in defeat. "Very well," he acquiesced slowly.

"Excellent," Raan exclaimed cheerfully. "I've already sent Tali a message to see us here. Hopefully she will be here soon."

Taking that as her cue, Tali knocked on the door. Upon hearing a loud "Enter," in response, she opened the door and stepped inside. Upon crossing the room's threshold, she found herself under the intense gaze of all five admirals. Immediately, she felt very self-conscious.

"Tali," Shala'Raan said, "We have some excellent news!"

Tali looked up expectantly at the admirals. "The conclave was recently and rather unexpectedly contacted by the Earth System's Alliance," Han'Gerrel explained, taking over from Raan, "It seems they are willing to open a diplomatic channel with the Migrant Fleet. I'm sure I don't have to tell you just what this means for the quarian people. We could be looking at the beginning of an alliance between the quarians and the humans. For the first time since our exile, there may be someone willing to help us reclaim the home world!"

"Or someone who will help us find a new home world; peacefully," Zaal'Koris interjected. "Regardless, this is a truly historic event."

"Tali," Raan said, "The Alliance has a ship currently docked with the Rayya, and is waiting for us to send someone with them to Earth in order to cement this alliance as an official one. We want you and Admiral Koris to go."

"Earth?" Tali gasped. Her knees nearly buckled as what Raan had explained slowly sunk in. Whatever she had been expecting when she overheard the tail end of the admirals' conversation, it certainly wasn't this. If it weren't for her enviro-suit being in the way, she would have pinched herself. "You want me to go to Earth?"

"Yes," Raan answered, the smile apparent in her voice, "the two of you will be the first quarians in over three centuries to be officially welcomed on a species' home world. That is, of course, if you accept."

Tali turned her head to Han'Gerrel, who nodded encouragingly at her. Sweeping her gaze across the rest of the admirals, she watched as Zaal'Koris, standing ridged and tall, gave her an almost imperceptible nod. Surprisingly, so did Xen.

When her eyes met with her father's, he immediately broke eye-contact, turning his head away so sharply, it almost appeared as if his daughter's eyes had scalded him. Willing them to do just that, Tali send a hard glare at him at his reaction.

_Fine_, she muttered internally, suddenly feeling rebellious, _if he's so opposed to this..._

"When do we leave?" she asked aloud.

0-0-0-0-0

**So there's the first chapter. It's just an introductory chapter; the action starts in the next one.**

**If you spot any spelling or grammar mistakes, please let me know. I'm prone to making typos, especially when I start typing fast. Also, please feel free to review; I know there's not much yet to review, but I like hearing feedback, even when it's (constructive) criticism.**


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